After an absolutely heartbreaking finale, Arrow is moving full-steam ahead to a strong sophomore season.

JJJ caught up with some of the cast at the recent CW Upfronts in New York City to get their take on – spoiler alert – Tommy’s (Colin Donnell) death, as well as where they hope the show will go next season.

On the season finale

“I found out around shooting episode 17 or 18. The producers came up and spoke with Colin and then as soon as they spoke with him, they spoke with me. Then I spoke with him. We had actually be shooting episode 18 and our director goes, ‘So, you guys are almost done with the first season. Who’s going to die?’ I was like, ‘Does that have to happen? What do you mean?’ And then I thought about it a lot and ran through different scenarios in my head, and it still gets me right in the you-know-what.” – Stephen Amell

“I was sad for Colin. I already knew it, but to watch it. I thought we saw Stephen do stuff that we had not seen him do all season, emotionally. He was more human and I thought that was great. I’m looking forward to season two and the anty is up.” – David Ramsey

“I still haven’t watched the finale because of Colin. Colin’s one my best friends and I was very devastated for him.” – Colton Haynes

“Devastating. I had heard prior to the last episode that Colin would be… so yeah, I was devastated because I love Colin. I adore him. He’s a kindred spirit in many ways. Our theatre background, our tastes, and just our aesthetics. He’s a good, down-to-earth St. Louis guy.” – Susanna Thompson

On what to expect for season 2

“We honor gaps in time on the show, so we’re going to take a little bit of time. We’re not going to pick up seconds later in the first episode back. I think a little bit of time has past and everybody is going to be in an entirely different place than they were in the beginning of the first season.” – Stephen Amell

“I have a feeling [Laurel and Oliver] continue the will-they-won’t they, bad, love-each-other-hate-each-other thing. I have a feeling they’ll continue to go back and forth. They are star-crossed lovers, so who knows!” – Katie Cassidy

“The thing about Diggle and Oliver is that they’re both kind of suffering from the same demons. They both have post-traumatic stress – Diggle because of his time in the war and obviously Oliver because his time on the island. So I think they’re both always going to struggle with making connections. I think they’re going to learn to live with that and try to strengthen that, but it’s always going to be a place of contention, which I think is good for the story. It may drive them away, but they’ll always come back together.” – David Ramsey

“There’s three different versions that Roy can become. We pick up a little later (after the finale ended), so you’re going to love certain characters now and then hate some. I hope Roy can deal with his own inner struggles before any hero status or else, he can possibly turn a little bad.” – Colton Haynes